Quite often in soccer when there's a red card, the match changes because one team suddenly gets to play with a man advantage.

That happened on Saturday night at Sahlen's Stadium. With Rochester already ahead by a goal, Harrisburg goalkeeper Nick Noble was sent off for tripping up Alex Dixon in the 33rd minute after the Rhinos forward had side-stepped Noble on a breakaway and Dixon could have walked the ball into the net if Noble didn't take him down.

The match did change after that, but remarkably it was in the favor of the short-handed team. Harrisburg stunned the Rhinos by scoring in the 37th and 42nd minutes and held on for a 2-2 draw that left Rochester, which was desperately in need of three points to help secure a playoff berth, scratching its collective head.

"You're not going to get a better opportunity than tonight. To get the first goal, to be up a man. But I think we brought some of those problems on by not closing the field," Rhinos coach Bob Lilley said, adding that Harrisburg's speed gave his defense fits.

"It was a missed opportunity, but we can't cry about it. We have to go and be men and go find a way to get a result in Harrisburg — hopefully, three points."

Rochester (8-10-8) plays at Harrisburg (9-9-7) next Saturday before its Sept. 7 finale at home against Wilmington (6-7-8).

The top eight teams make the USL PRO playoffs. One point from the draw bumped the Rhinos into a sixth-place tie with Charleston at 32 points. With 34 points, Harrisburg is in fifth. But no team below fourth-place Los Angeles (43 points) has a firm grip on the playoffs.

Just eight points separate 13th-place Pittsburgh (26 points), which has four matches left, from Harrisburg.

"It clearly wasn't good enough today. We needed all three (points)," said Rhinos forward JC Banks, whose 54th-minute penalty kick tied it at 2 after a handball in the box on his header. "But we're still in a decent enough position where we can get in if we take care of our business."

Rochester started out Saturday night like it was ready to do just that. The Rhinos went ahead on Tony Walls' well-placed and curling free kick from 25 yards in the eighth minute after some fancy footwork by Dixon drew a foul. Walls had hit the crossbar with a header in the seventh minute and Banks had a goal negated in the third minute by what Lilley thought was a poor offsides call.

"It could have been 3-0 and maybe there's no life (for Harrisburg), but at 1-0 they get a tying goal and we have to take responsibility," Lilley said. "Harrisburg deserves a lot of credit."

The City Islanders are on a 6-2-3 uptick. Harrisburg played without suspended midfield catalyst Morgan Langely and rookie forward Pedro Ribiero, who was called up to Philadelphia (MLS). Clesio Bauque, 19, more than made up for it with his explosiveness.

The forward from Mozambique tied it in the 37th by capitalizing on a mistake by Rhinos rookie goalie John McCarthy and converted the go-ahead goal in the 42nd by slipping in between defenders Kyle Hoffer and Babacar Diallo and shooting quickly. Yann Ekra assisted on both.

It looked like Hoffer could clear Ekra's long floater on the first goal, but Hoffer backed off because he heard McCarthy call for it, the ball dropped and Bauque converted from 10 yards.

"Just got a bad read on it," McCarthy said. "It was 100 percent all me. I said 'away!' first."